How Much Do AI Apps Really Make? Revenue Study of 1,575 Verified AI Businesses

Key findings

• The median AI business makes about $300 a month in recurring revenue. Half make less.
• Only 28.6% reach $1,000 MRR. About 1 in 9 (11.1%) reach $5,000.
• Just 0.6% (9 businesses) pass $100,000 MRR.
• The top 1% hold about half of all the revenue in the dataset. The average ($4,760) is 16 times the median, so averages are misleading here.
• Mobile apps and web SaaS look alike: median $263 for mobile apps, $294 for SaaS.

The distribution

Monthly recurring revenue	Businesses	Share
$100 or more	1,140	72.4%
$1,000 or more	450	28.6%
$5,000 or more	175	11.1%
$10,000 or more	125	7.9%
$50,000 or more	21	1.3%
$100,000 or more	9	0.6%

Percentile	MRR
25th	$90
50th (median)	$300
75th	$1,316
90th	$6,151
99th	$56,771

By type

Group	Businesses with MRR	Median MRR	Share at $1,000+
Web SaaS	1,230	$294	28.2%
Mobile apps	285	$263	24.2%
All verified	1,575	$300	28.6%

By niche

Medians below come from keyword matches on each business’s title and tagline (hand-cleaned for some niches), verified revenue only. Niches overlap, and small samples move a lot, so treat these as rough. Niche counts come from the earlier October 29 snapshot (1,539 businesses); the headline numbers above use the latest one.

Niche	Verified businesses	Median MRR	$1k+ MRR	Deep dive
TikTok tools	22	$1,676	13	guide
Games and Roblox tools	15	$1,335	7	guide
Video clipping and captions	15	$1,259	8	guide
AI search (GEO/AEO)	35	$995	16	guide
LinkedIn tools	37	$901	15	guide
Sports, betting and coaching	14	$714	6	guide
3D tools and assets	12	$687	4	guide
WhatsApp	21	$658	8	guide
Reddit marketing	21	$654	6	guide
SEO tools and services	63	$613	24	guide
Translation, dubbing and language learning	29	$613	10	guide
Website and landing page builders	18	$608	8	guide
MCP servers	26	$584	10	guide
Social media tools	195	$554	75	guide
Lead generation and outbound	77	$548	26	guide
E-commerce and Shopify	37	$452	11	guide
Customer support and helpdesks	15	$439	6	guide
Chrome and browser extensions	19	$407	2	guide
Recruiting and interviews	21	$402	5	guide
AI agents	205	$400	58	guide
Finance, trading and budgeting	35	$384	8	guide
Email tools and inboxes	25	$355	6	guide
Transcription and dictation	35	$350	9	guide
Fitness and calorie apps	32	$309	10	guide
OpenClaw hosting and add-ons	21	$300	6	guide
Tools for AI coders (MCP, Claude Code, Cursor)	83	$297	19	guide
YouTube and podcast tools	54	$294	17	guide
Beauty and fashion	31	$290	9	guide
Music, songs and DJ tools	35	$278	12	guide
Image and video generation	395	$270	100	guide
Education and tutoring	56	$245	12	guide
Writing and content	65	$236	20	guide
Resume and career	54	$222	11	guide
Receptionists and voice agents	16	$213	3	guide
Interior design and home services	24	$210	6	guide
Food, recipes and meal planning	18	$193	5	guide
Calorie trackers	27	$185	7	guide
Companions and dating	36	$168	6	guide
Faith, astrology and dreams	12	$118	3	guide
Headshots and portraits	16	$77	1	guide
Local and on-device AI	19	$50	4	guide

The pattern: niches that sell to businesses and tie directly to revenue (AI search, SEO, leads, stores) beat most consumer niches. The exceptions at the top (games, sports) are tiny samples with a few big winners.

Method

• Source: the PrintCash with AI directory of 2,111 AI business stacks. 1,856 are marked verified. Of those, 1,575 list a recurring revenue (MRR) figure. Businesses that only show one-off revenue are left out.
• Verification: figures come from TrustMRR listings connected to a payment provider: Stripe (1,037), RevenueCat (287), Dodo Payments (70), Polar (62), Lemon Squeezy (37), Paddle (28) and a few others. About 250 newer stacks with operator-reported numbers (for example from Indie Hackers) are left out. Founders choose to list there, so this is a self-selected sample. It skews toward people who build in public and have something to show.
• Date: snapshot taken October 2026 (each stack page shows its own check date). Numbers change daily.
• What it is not: this is not a survey of all AI apps. Failed apps that never connected a payment provider are invisible, so the true median for everyone who tries is almost certainly lower.

What it means if you are starting

1. Plan for the median, not the screenshot. $300 a month is a realistic one-year target for a typical solo AI product. $10k is top 8%.
2. The category matters less than distribution. Mobile and web medians are close. The winners in both had a channel: search, an audience, or paid ads.
3. Check the proof. A screenshot or a podcast claim is not the same as a payment-verified number. See AI side hustles that actually make money and AI micro SaaS ideas with verified revenue.

Browse the top earners in verified-revenue AI businesses, or see what the best mobile apps do in AI app ideas that make money.

Cite this study

PrintCash with AI (2026). “How Much Do AI Apps Really Make? Revenue Study of 1,575 Verified AI Businesses.” https://printcashwithai.com/guides/how-much-do-ai-apps-make/

You are welcome to quote the numbers and reuse the tables with a link to this page.